The Kremlin on Thursday denied any personal involvement of President Vladimir Putin in the arrest at the end of March of the American journalist Evan Gershkovich, accused of espionage by the Russian authorities.
• Read also: Washington denounces the “arbitrary detention” of the American journalist in Russia
“No, it is not the prerogative of the president. It is the special services who take care of it, who do their job, ”reacted the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov, questioned on the subject during his daily press conference.
“This journalist was caught red-handed,” he repeated once again.
The remarks come after the Bloomberg news agency reported on Wednesday, citing sources “familiar with the matter”, that Vladimir Putin had personally approved of the arrest of the American journalist.
The Russian security services (FSB) announced on March 30 the arrest of this Moscow correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and former AFP journalist, while he was on assignment in Yekaterinburg. He is accused of espionage.
The person concerned, his newspaper, his relatives and the American government have categorically rejected the Russian accusations.
Many observers believe that the journalist could serve in Moscow as part of a possible future exchange of prisoners with Washington.
In this regard, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov repeated on Thursday that such a measure “can only be considered once the court has rendered its verdict”.
“For exchanges, we have a special channel (with Washington, editor’s note) for that. The special services are engaged in this and they will continue to deal with this issue,” he added.
On Wednesday, Russia admitted that it had still not authorized a consular visit for Mr. Gershkovich, saying it was “examining the question”, two weeks after his arrest.